Curving River

On July 29 2023 my family and I had first class tickets to Washington DC connecting through Miami on American Airlines. We had in our possession boarding passes and arrived before boarding was completed. We were however denied boarding as the gate agents were dealing with other passengers and refused to attend to us. I was traveling with an infant child and as you can imagine it was quite disturbing. The experience was exacerbated by the discourtesy of the gate agents that walked off on us whilst trying to speak to them. We were forced to book new flights to Washington later that night. We complained to AA and were simply given frequent flyer miles. American is treating this matter quite trivially. At this stage I have no alternative but to seek legal redress over this matter.

dw

Then it�s probably best not to post details on a public forum?

irishguy28

I'm not sure why you would need the gate agents to attend to you, given that you already had boarding passes and boarding had not yet completed: you would just have needed to join the back of the queue formed by the other boarding passengers, and board.

Curving River

And thats the point. They were not at the gate allowing us to board but attending to other passengers. It was not only me that was affected. There were others in front of us as well.

UKtravelbear

Someting is missing here.

Are you telling us the GA closed the flight whilst several people were still waiting to board and you all kept quiet?

orbitmic

I agree, I don't find the event descriptions clear enough. OP are you saying that you went to the gate before boarding should have closed and there were in fact no gate agents there? In which case who are the agents you say "refused to attend to you"? Or is it something else in which case, if you want any advice from this forum, I think you'll need to describe the sequence of events more systematically (did this happen before your first or your connecting flight, what time did you actually arrive at the gate, etc.).

Having said that, if, as you say, you are seeking legal redress, you are probably best off not discussing the case here and just asking whoever is advising you legally.

AirborneLocksmith

It sounds like boarding may have already closed and the GAs were rebooking other passengers when the OP arrived.

GNRMatt

One key question...what was the scheduled departure time of the flight? And what time did you arrive at the gate? Please be specific in these answers.

dw

This. If this was MIA the other passengers were probably connecting and missed the cut off. And at some point the GAs have to leave to attend to another flight.

tennessetom

Yes, it sounds like they arrived at the gate post boarding cut off, at that point your seats had probably been given away and you were off loaded from the flight, I know it is annoying but there is a cut off point where you do get off loaded from a flight, gate agents will try to help if they can to rebook you but often have to be at another gate so will redirect you to a service area for assistance, you were probably given miles as the reason you missed the flight was an inbound american flight and american gave you miles as a good will gesture, I am not sure what else you were looking for or what you are suing for

bobnchi

Where did the flight originate from? Is the where you were denied?

IADCAflyer

Gonna watch this one evolve with interest.....

Curving River

I think you are beginning to understand. I appreciate your perspective on not discussing the case here but I disagree. I am sharing to get the insight of other passengers but also to highlight the difficulties I experienced which is what this forum is about. The choice is yours if you wish to contribute or not.
To answer why we kept quiet-we didnt but i dont know how to address an issue if someone has walked off on you and showed you their back. The flight originated in the Caribbean on AA and the connection was on AA so that is not a reason. We were there in ample time before boarding is complete and there waiting in the line and someone announces boarding complete. Please bear in mind it is a connecting flight and we had to come from a different area in in Miami Airport to catch this other flight.
To answer the passenger about what more we want but miles as a gesture- This was not a free ticket. It was something we paid for. It is a contract between AA and the passenger. There are international conventions governing the rights of passenger and a token gesture is not sufficient to deal with this and quite frankly insulting. Some may accept that and keep quiet but that is a matter for them.
This is my way of not keeping quiet- not to scream and shout in an airport and look like a hooligan. So thanks for your feedback but a few miles is not sufficient redress.

USFlyerUS

We still need more information to provide the best guidance. See prior posts. Please provide the time your inbound arrived vis-�-vis the scheduled arrival and how long it took to get through customs and immigration, what specific time you arrived at the gate vis-�-vis your schedule departure, etc. I'm asking because I'm wondering if the new automated rebooking tool thought you were going to miss your connection and proactively rebooked you. We need specific facts, not general statements. Otherwise, you won't get much actionable advice.

GNRMatt

Again, I need to be clear about this. To get proper advice on this, and to allow people on here to understand exactly what happened, you need to provide:

• What specific time was the flight scheduled to depart? (It should say this on your boarding pass/confirmation email)
• What specific time did you arrive at the gate? I know you may not have been looking at your watch at this time, but it is a critical piece of information